89% of the investment from U.K. and Germany MoUs are meant for expansion, says Anbumani Ramadoss

PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss said on Monday that 89% of the investment from the memoranda of understanding signed during Chief Minister M.K. Stalin’s tour of Germany and the United Kingdom was meant for the expansion of the projects already operating in Tamil Nadu.

“Mr. Stalin claimed that ₹7,020 crore in investment would come from Germany. I made it clear earlier that three companies which signed contracts worth ₹3,201 crore have already been operating around Chennai. Subsequently, Mr. Stalin said agreements entailing ₹3,819 crore in investment were signed with 23 companies. Again, most of these companies have already been operating in the State. For example, Vensys Energy has already signed an agreement with a Chennai-based group to make wind turbine equipment at Gummidipoondi,” he said.

“Likewise, BASF is set to invest ₹300 crore, BellaPremier Happy Hygiene Care ₹300 crore, Herrenknecht India ₹250 crore, and Witzenmann India ₹200 crore. All this is intended for expansion projects. Out of the ₹7,020 crore in investment said to be coming from Germany, at least ₹5,319 crore is meant for expansion projects,” Dr. Anbumani said.

He said, “It was announced that the Hinduja Group agreed to invest ₹7,500 crore in the State. The group is operating the Ashok Leyland vehicle plant in Chennai. The Tamil Nadu government itself has said that this investment is meant for upgrading the electric vehicle ecosystem, including battery storage systems. The group had announced this investment last month itself. In total, out of the ₹15,516 crore in investment, claimed to have been clinched during Mr. Stalin’s foreign trip, 89%, or ₹13,815 crore, is meant for expansion projects. This could have been attracted easily from Tamil Nadu itself. There was no need for the Chief Minister to have travelled to the United Kingdom or Germany, spending crores of rupees, for this purpose.”